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Jose Vergara (a.k.a. Redosking), a 19-year-old artist from Texas, is drawing close-ups of the human eye with the sort of hyper-realistic level of detail that one would ordinarily expect from experienced masters.

Vergara draws using only colored pencils, which makes his work all the more impressive. Most of us use or have used, at one point or another, colored pencils, which makes it easier to realize just how much more talented he is than most of us. And he’s only 19 years old!

The eyes are truly one of the best tests of an artist’s capability to mimic reality because we hold them to a higher standard. During our evolution, it has been critically important to be able to follow a pair of eyes’ gaze and to be able to see eyes that are observing us. This is part of the reason that some people say they need to look someone in the eyes to trust them and why getting the eyes wrong in a realistic drawing can ruin the rest of it for us. And all of this is, of course, why the eyes are often called the windows of the soul.

The best part is, Vergara doesn’t just draw eyes – there are a ton of portraits and other drawings on his various online accounts. Be sure to check out the rest of his work!

About the author

There is a beast with heart of cold stone
that dashes like lightning, shreds flesh from bone. //
Bewitched by this beast, I fell to my knees.
My mouth babbled madness and mumbled soft pleas. //
I stared down the ravenous, gnashing dark maw of a cute cuddly kitten with yarn in its paw